


The Price of the Stars

by VortexSwirl_24



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, F/M, Go away Koschei, Hurt/Comfort, Song: In Your Eyes (The Weeknd), Talking, The Doctor is brilliant at debates, The TARDIS Ships It (Doctor Who), The end scene gives me Frozen vibes, Unlucky for her the Master's pretty good at it too, do you wanna build a snowman?, no, pain and sadness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:35:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28370235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VortexSwirl_24/pseuds/VortexSwirl_24
Summary: "Do you ever think about it, Theta? The burden you carry? The blessing of being able to freely travel all of space and time but constantly face the curse that comes with it; being the witness to so many deaths from one insignificant person to a whole world? The true abilities of our people if you dare to use it?"That makes her go silent. It stays for a few seconds, half a minute, then two minutes and is finally ended by a single word. "No."Her eyes told another story. Somewhere in the soft brown eyes she obtained through this regeneration, he was given the impression that it bothered her beyond words. That it plagued the back of her mind but she forced herself to be oblivious to the issue.
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor/The Master (Dhawan)
Kudos: 17





	The Price of the Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Had this idea for the longest time so I finally decided to put it on here and tbh I'm kinda proud of this one.
> 
> Enjoy your read :D

Night in the middle of space was calm, still, and silent, completely innocent you could add. Nothing and no one made a sound to disturb the peace but the TARDIS and it's travellers. On this particular night, all was quiet, the reassuring hum of the TARDIS on standby and the two Time Lords sitting on it's edge, staring wordlessly at the shimmering lights of a youthful galaxy. 

Space wasn't always this silent but on this night, everything stopped. No ships were flown. No wars were fought. No violence took place. For once, everything in the whole universe was at peace. 

"Koschei, thanks for, you know, not destroying the universe and what-not. And just being here." 

"Well, you got your wish, didn't you? Travelling the stars with me?" The Doctor nods and the lights of the galaxy create a new hue in her eyes. Or maybe it's just the newfound, child-like excitement of her wish being fulfilled finally. A wish that was thousands of years old and seemed impossible at so many points. 

"Definitely." 

"Besides," He continues, his stray hand moving inch by inch closer to hers. "I bet it was lonley in this TARDIS without your best enemy." 

She grins and punches him playfully in the shoulder, the Master clutching the place he was hit in mock pain. "You wish." 

The TARDIS made a hum from behind them. One that sounded rather happy than offended. The Master smiled and pointed to the Time Rotor. "See? She missed me." 

"But, I admit, it was a bit lonley." He smirks at her. "Occasionally. But that comes with the job, I guess. Time-travelling and saving people. You can't save everyone you meet..." As she trails off, the Doctor tilts her head up to the stars above them, partially hidden by the TARDIS' roof. "No matter how hard you try. Last time no-one died was four regenerations ago. I savour the days when everyone lives, I really do. I store them in my mind to remind me of what I do in times that I can't see myself winning. But such is the life of a renegade Time Lord. One of the last two species of an all-powerful race, chosing to use that status and ability to protect the universe." 

"Do you ever think about it, Theta? The burden you carry? The blessing of being able to freely travel all of space and time but constantly face the curse that comes with it; being the witness to so many deaths from one insignificant person to a whole world? The true abilities of our people if you dare to use it?"

That makes her go silent. It stays for a few seconds, half a minute, then two minutes and is finally ended by a single word. "No." 

Her eyes told another story. Somewhere in the soft brown eyes she obtained through this regeneration, he was given the impression that it bothered her beyond words. That it plagued the back of her mind but she forced herself to be oblivious to the issue.

Pretending publicly she took the blissful ignorance of the blue pill, but behind closed doors continued to be haunted by the life-changing truth from the red pill.

He didn't blame her for lying, in all honesty. She was the lonely traveller after all. The Oncoming Storm. Always saving others, but never being saved from her own personal demons. Fighting for other people's rights, but never being properly congratulated for it. All of the blood, betrayals and deaths, but no one to confide in. 

It got to you.

Maybe that's how she got by. Maybe it was seeing the relief and joy of who she could save from death that fuelled her and pulled her from the clutches of insanity.

It wasn't that the Master was any better at it. It was the one thing they could agree without competition or argument. Well, the one thing they'd probably agree if they ever talked about it. It was one boundary neither of them were ready to cross, unfamiliar territory carrying an ominous atmosphere if it was to find its way into their conversation.

But maybe this path blurred by fear of the unknown will take an unexpected turn. For better or for worse. 

"I think it's easier not to think about it," she added. Of course, asking even the question itself was taking a risk. To imply it brought on a sort of awkwardness so to directly ask was unnatural and strange to them both. 

"Not even your companions? Rose and the Tyler family? And Donna? Do you ever think about them?" 

This time, he didn't receive a response. She tensed up slightly and her eyes became glossy in memory. The Master immediately regretted saying so and silently wished he could erase or take back what he had just said. Maybe this time he'd gone too far. Maybe neither of them were truly ready for that subject. Maybe- 

"I do think about them sometimes." Her soft brown eyes flicked over to him for a fraction of a second. So quickly that you could've missed it. 

"I think about how it could've gone differently. How I could've saved them if I had just one single moment to think. I've lost so many people and I still take them with me, risking their lives for my own company. For my personal gain. I'm killing people, Koschei. I'm killing people without meaning to and they're all gone forever."

"But you need them, love." The Master replied with a reassuring tone but the Doctor wasn't falling for it. 

"You don't need companions." 

"No. But you need companions, Theta." She sighed at that opinion, mumbling a string of words so quietly that the Master had barely heard her. "I don't have companions because I can't trust them not to betray me. You need them because you're reckless." 

"I am not-"

"Yes you are. You don't realise it because you've been that way for so long. It's become ingrained deep inside of you to the general makeup of who you are... even if it's minuscule compared to your other traits."

"Shut up." The Doctor muttered half-heartedly, her eyes moving away from him and to the stars beneath them, sudden finding a still image more interesting than their conversation.

"Thete..."

"No, shut up." She raised her voice slightly above its usual volume.

"Theta." The Master sounded stern but reassuring. "You need companions because you don't know any limits." 

"I said 'Shut up!" It came out in a yell, shocking both people by the ferocity of how it was said. There was a light blush across her face and her eyes were a lot more reflective like she was going to break out in tears any moment now. The Doctor walked away without a word, sniffling lightly and leaving the Master alone on the edge of the TARDIS staring aimlessly into the lights. 

Now he was sure he had definitely gone way too far. 

What was there to do now? The Master had upset her so what came next? He was relatively sure that she would have stormed off somewhere deep into the TARDIS, but where he wasn't sure. As he pulled himself up gradually, closing the doors to the TARDIS, he turned around and walked to the console, placing both palms on it and sighing as he looked into the golden crystal-like Time Rotor this Doctor's regeneration had gotten. 

Should he go to her now or wait until she had time to calm down? Answerless questions swirled around in his mind but he was abruptly cut from his train of though by the gentle hum of the TARDIS, the scene around him being covered in a dark blue. Sadness. 

The Master sighs for the final time, burying his face in his hands and finding himself moving towards the corridors. To the Doctor's room. 

_______________

Contact... He says, his ear touching the door. No response. 

Contact... A light shuffle is heard but no vocals. 

Conta-

Contact. What do you want now?" 

He can feel the torrents of hurt she feels in his mind, merged into her voice. Open the door?

No.

But, Theta- 

I don't want to talk to you right now. Her voice broke near the end of the sentence, as the Doctor let a small rare tributary of the true pain she felt leak through.

You didn't let me finish, Thete.

And I'm not going to, Kosch.

What I was saying before was that you don't know any limits. You're dangerously careless sometimes, Theta. It's just your way of life. Living in the moment and never thinking about how it could affect you later.

Silence met him again, a common act she knew he had grown too comfortable with. He switched to speaking aloud, certain that she would be unable to block his voice out. "You don't think about your own wellbeing, just the people you travel with and the people you can protect from death. You're selfless. And that's not a bad thing but sometimes, you need to pull yourself away from the edge. Take a step back. Stop living in the moment."

It was eerily quiet now, like something was waiting in the darkness to break the silence at the right moment and make themselves known.

"Have you ever thought that maybe without your friends that you could've died many times before. Then who will save humankind from the aliens who seek to conquer or destroy it? Who would save the universe?" 

That reminded the Doctor of the countless times she had told herself 'never again' but somehow still sustained companions. How she put their lives at risk for her own enjoyment. How they died because of how careless she was with their delicate, feather-light lives. Clara, the Ponds, River Song. When did it stop? It was manslaughter. She buried her face deeper into a pillow. 

"The landslide majority of creatures out there either want to use Earth for their own gain, conquer the planet, destroy everything that isn't who they are or don't care about what happens and turn a blind eye. If anyone cared about that planet, I don't think half of your job should be to protect it. The other half is protecting the universe which should be a noticeable difference in its self if you're comparing one planet to everything else that exists." 

The Doctor sighed, the only form of response she's given since the silence was hung. 

"The summary is, you're too much of humanitarian and forget about yourself. You neglect yourself so other people can feel what you don't get to experience. Hope, joy and freedom. Trust and the ability to be carefree."

More scuttling on the other side of the door, then quiet footsteps nearing him. A click rang out and the door separating them creaked open, revealing the Doctor with hair sticking up in different places, some of it stuck to her face and making her look somewhat less than sane. 

Like an instinct, he wrapped his arms around her tightly, letting her hands fall to her sides. "But just because they need you doesn't mean you don't have needs yourself." 

"I-I know... I know... You're right and I've just, I stopped caring..." She says, nuzzling her face into his shoulder.

"Oh, Doctor" He coos, gingerly running a hand through a few stray blonde wisps and placing them behind her ear. "My careless Doctor. My selfless Doctor. Everything will be fine, I can promise you that."

"But how can you be sure? I can't even care for myself. How will I be fine when I throw myself at every danger in the known universe without even consciously knowing what risks I'm taking?" 

"Because I will care for you. Forever." 

"Forever?" She repeats, looking into his soft eyes. 

"Forever. For all of eternity. Until I die. Whichever comes last..."

_______________

When they'd returned to the TARDIS' main room, they found the whole room painted in a wonderful, nearly blinding yellow. 

"So, where next?" 

The Master moves to the other side of the TARDIS, turning a few switches. "Hey, Kosch. Let's take a gamble. Random co-ordinates. Anywhere and everywhere. Any time, any place." 

He chuckles. "You better not throw us into a jail or on Skaro." 

"No, definitely not. The TARDIS excludes that planet automatically unless I wanted to go there for whatever reason. And we're not welcome there regardless." 

"Brilliant." Admires the Master. 

"Oi! Careful, that's my line." The Doctor says, looking up at him from the opposite side and giggling. "You'll be eating my Custard Creams at this rate." 

"Who's to say that I don't?" 

The light becomes more intense, everything being filled with the TARDIS' joy. It hummed happily in the background. "Look at you, Doctor. You're rubbing off on me. I can feel the childish attitude and sarcasm working right through me." 

"Better than you rubbing off on me! Do you think I wanna go around being Mr. Arrogant and then stealing people's biscuits? I can already feel the candy in my system." 

"Don't pretend you don't steal the odd Jammy Dodger or Custard Cream sometimes too, Theta. And what candy? I don't eat candy. Can't say that I'm the sanest of people when I do." 

"Well, people say you are what you eat." 

The Doctor grinned, the Master pretending to be sick. "Anyway enough about that." He continued. "You ready light this candle?" 

Her face scrunches slightly in distaste. "You're not as cute as you think you are when you use outdated idioms." 

He smirks. "You're a Time-Traveller. What's outdated to you?" 

"Anything you say, really." 

"Oh, really?" 

It hadn't registered properly what he had done until his lips were on hers. The Master pulled away almost as quickly as he'd gone to her, the Doctor blushed in shock then gasped with realisation. 

"Wait a second! Didn't I say anything that was a verbal action! Something you say, not do?!" 

"I remember an idiom. Probably outdated by your standards." His eyebrows go up for a second then back down. "'Actions speak louder than words?'" 

"Ha ha. Funny." She mock-laughs as she turns back to the TARDIS, grabbing hold of a switch connected to the console. 

"So, ready to travel the stars, Koschei Oakdown?" 

"It would be my honour, Theta Lungbarrow." 

And with that promise they were off, the groaning of the rotor filling the silence and them being whisked into the time-vortex to be thrown to a random part of the universe. Where that was, that was yet to be discovered. But they'd experience it together which is all either of them could ever really ask for...


End file.
